Speaking during a conference call for the company’s Q3 2019 results, Read (pictured) reportedly said: “We have now decided as a result of the EU toolbox and the UK government’s decision to take out Huawei from the core. This will take around five years to implement at a cost of approximately 200 million euros.”
The news comes as the UK government published new guideline to limit Huawei’s role in the country 5G network plans. Under the new rules, Huawei is only permitted to be used in limited parts of any UK 5G network and only to a limited percentage because it is considered a ‘high risk vendor’. Specifically, the company is banned from all safety related and safety critical networks in critical national infrastructure and security critical network functions. In addition, this limited role is capped at 35%.
During the phone briefing Read described the cap as not ‘optimal’ adding “I wouldn’t want this for Europe, it would be highly disruptive,” referring to the delays it will likely cause in the deployment of 5G.
Vodafone’s costings come shortly after a similar announcement from BT which said it would cost them £500 million to remove Huawei from its network.
“We are in the process of reviewing the guidance in detail to determine the full impact on our plans and at this time estimate an impact of around £500m over the next five years,” said BT CEO Philip Jansen.
